Due to Covid Panic, Macau GGR Is Plummeting From September 2020 Levels

According to channel checks, the casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) in Macau for the initial week of August was down by 48 percent from the previous week, according to stockbroker Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd in Hong Kong.

The average daily GGR for the period of August 1 to August 8 was MOP 125 million (US$15.6 million), Vitaly Umansky, Kelsey Zhu, and Lois Li, all three analysts.

“The severe GGR worsening this week was driven by travel difficulties when Macau discovered four new cases of Covid-19 on August 3, the analyst said, referring to a local family being infected with the Delta form of Covid-19, which prompted a tightening of cross-border travel regulations.

Except for Macau, Mainland China is the location having a quarantine-free travel bubble. Due to an increase in Covid-19 instances on the mainland, Guangdong province, Macau’s largest single source of visitors, has recently cautioned its residents against traveling outside of the territory.

Authorities in Zhuhai, Guangdong, stated on August 3 that beginning at 6 a.m. the next day, individuals harboring between Zhuhai and Macau will have to present a Covid negative certificate issued 12 hours before the departure.

On Saturday morning, August 7, the three-day bulk testing operation was finished. As part of the initiative, around 614,465 citizens were tested for Covid-19 for free. In addition, outside of the mass testing plan, 101,786 individuals were tested at various testing locations in Macau throughout the time, according to the city’s administration.

Several prominent players in the gaming and hospitality industries told GGRAsia that the Covid-19 section discovered in Macau had dampened prospects of a summer rebound for Macau’s gaming and hotel industry.

Sanford Bernstein forecasted August GGR would be low compared to 70 percent from August 2019 and down “high-30s of a percent” month-over-month from July 2021 in a Monday note.